Regarding the booking of airplanes

In the previous blog, I wrote about the airplane in the U.S. Today, I again want to write about it, especially booking of airplanes because I experienced a serious issue.

Situation

As I wrote in the previous blog, I participated in the Boston Career forum on November 15th, and I went to Miami on November 16th.

I went there because my family, who at that time came to the U.S. from Japan, were in Miami on that weekend.

After they bought airplane tickets, I noticed that the date of the Career Forum and that trip were unluckily the same.

I really think it was a bad luck.

I am now a sophomore, thus I do not need to do the job hunting seriously, thus I participated in that event only for one day in order to feel its atmosphere and listened to some information sessions.

When I and my family enjoyed sightseeing in Miami and went back the hotel from Miami Beach by bus, we found a serious issue.

Can’t take the airplane?

My family bought airplane tickets between New York (La Guardia) and Miami as a round trip including me after they bought a round trip rickets between Tokyo and New York.

Then, I noticed that the Career Forum and this trip to Miami were on the same date, thus I bought an one-way ticket from Boston to Miami.

Thus, this means that I did not take the outbound flight from La Guardia to Miami.

This ticket was actually the cheapest plan, thus we were not able to change, cancel the plan, and even get the refund at all.

On November 17th, I was going to go back New York with my family by using this ticket, but I was not able to check-in that ticket at the previous night (16th).

None of my family members expected this situation, thus we were really surprised, but I called the customer service center of American Airlines in order to confirm whether I really could not check-in (of course, without check-in, no one can take the plane).

I am studying abroad now, thus I am able to make a call in English even though it is not as fluent as Japanese.

After giving brief information, I talked to the operator and explained the situation, but she told me that the return trip to New York from Miami was automatically cancelled because I did not take the outbound flight and I could get no refund.

I negotiated a little because I took a flight from Boston to Miami operated by American Airline, which was the same corporation as the one that my family booked, but it was not accepted.

Afterwards

After making a call to the American Airlines, we learned that I was not able to take that original flight. However, I had to go back Stony Brook, NY by Monday afternoon.

On the other hand, my family were able to take that flight of course because they took the outbound one, and they were going back Japan in the Monday afternoon.

This means I was to go back New York on Sunday (November 17th) so as to meet my family again.

However, as you know, buying the airplane ticket in the previous day is much more expensive than buying it a few months prior to the flight.

I checked the flight from Miami to New York just after the call, but most of them were already sold out or cost more than 2000 dollars.

The flight on Monday cost at around 200 dollars, thus I was going to fly back New York on Monday after staying at Miami alone on Sunday.

However, a miracle happened.

Before booking the Monday ticket, I again checked the Sunday flight, and I found only one ticket left that was sold at about 340 dollars, which left Miami at around 6 p.m., and purchased it.

Apparently it seems to be expensive, but considering the hotel price in Miami on Sunday, buying that ticket was almost as same as the Monday one, thus I made a decision to buy it.

It was the last seat, thus there was a possibility of losing that ticket while transaction, but I managed to purchase it luckily.

The flight my family took departed Miami at 1 p.m., hence I had another five hours to spend in Miami alone. I decided to go to a Bayside Market that I could not go on the previous day and bought postcards and a sweater.

That I was able to go there was a good experience, but I wasted the round flight between La Guardia and Miami that cost about 370 dollars. From this experience, I learned the risk of a cheap flight ticket that had no financial support after purchase with a huge loss.

↑This is a Bayside Market in Miami. I found a lot of shops that sold cloths, postcards, and products for ocean and restaurants, too.

My thought from this experience

What I strongly want to tell you from this experience is that you are able to get a huge discount especially for international flights when you buy a round trip ticket, but at the same time you lose a great amount of money if you cannot make that flight.

I think my issue is a rare case, but it is true that you can’t almost always get a refund once you buy the ticket for international flights, thus I strongly suggest that you check the itinerary twice or three times before paying for it.

In addition to the busy schedule from New York to Boston to Miami to New York, I faced this airplane’s booking trouble and also experienced a terrible Amtrak issue when I went to Boston from New York on November 15th, which I would write in the next blog, I was really tired although I met my family for the first time in a few months.

Thank you very much for reading the blog today.